Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-08-26

{. -. ono AumUeE O1 ler sons sacrificed
IN the cause of the Union Vermont led
al! the other States by heavy per cent.
with the exception of Kansas, :
Vermont's proportion per thousand
contributed to the total of deaths in
action was $500; that of Ohio 36.55:
that of New York 1868. Massachusetts
was 47.76; Iowa, 1914.
In the proportion per thousand of
deaths from disease Iowa led with a
percentage of 114.O2, and Vermont fol-
lowed with 91.81. Ohio's percentage
was 49, 50. The proportion of deaths
from all causes in the troops of each
State was as follows: Maine, 1 in y:
New Hampshire, / in Z; Vermont. ! in
6; Massachusetts,, in g; Rhode Island.
! in IL; Connecticut, i in 10; New
York, in -; New Jersey, 1 in -;
pennsylvania. l in ~; Delaware, 1 in
20; Maryland, in 26; Ohio, in 26;
Indiana, l in 8; Illinois, in Z; Michi-
gan, in 6; Wisconsin, 1 in z; Mime
sofa. l in 8; Iowa, l I'M 5 (nearly 81:
Kansas, l in 5; California, 1 in 20:
Virginia, ] i'll 6; Kentucky, in 49,:
Missouri, in 9.
Again, the young man must not for
get as he reads of the great battles of
history that few of them can compare
in magnitude with the great battles of
the civil war, and that the battles of
that war were the bloodiest in all the
history of wars in the proportion of
killed to those engaged. Waterloo was
one OF the most desperate and bloody
fields chronicled in European history,
and yet Wellington's casualties were
less than IL per cent, his losses being
2,432 killed and 95S wounded out Of
over 100000, while at Shiloh one side
lost in killed and wounded 9,74O out of
-, 200, while their opponents reported
their killed and wounded at 9,616,
making the casualties about 80 per
cent. At the great battle of Wagram,
Napoleon lost but about 5 per cent.
At Wurzburg the French lost but 81
per cent, and yet the army gave up the
field and retreated to the Rhine.
At Racour, Marshal SAKE lost but 81
per cent. At Zurich, Massena lost but
s per cent. At Lagriz, Frederick lost
but 81 per cent. At Malplaauet, Marl-
borough lost but 10 per cent, and at
Families the same intrepid commander
1OSI OUT per cent.
At Contras, Henry of Navarro was
reported rs cut to pieces, yet his loss
was less than 10 per cent. At Lodi,
Napoleon lost but IL per cent. At
Valmy, Frederick William lost but 3
per cent, and at the great battles of
Marengo and Austerlitz, sanguinary as
they were, Napoleon lost an average of
less than l4t per cent. At Magenta
and Solferino, in 1859, the average loss
of both armies was less than 8 per cent.
At Konigratz, in 1868, it was per
cent. At Worth, Specheram, Mars lie
Tour, Gravelotte, and Sedan, in 1870,
the average loss was 10 per cent, while
at Linden Gen. Moreau lost but per
cent, and the Archduke John lost but
7 per cent. in killed and wounded.
OF the gentlemen who were at West
Point during the period of cadetship
fifty-six were killed in battle, and, esti-
mating the rate of killed and wounded
at one to five, two hundred and eighty
were wounded.
In addition to the vast list of dead
from the war must be added those who
have died from wounds received during
the war. The killing is still going on
about as rapidly as ever, and the men
are dropping daily from wounds re-
ceived in action, who ought to live for
long years yet. The figures that I
have given really give but glimpse
into the sad truth of the awful mortal
ity of the war that saved the Union. 1
hope the young men who read this will
feel nc more impotence because the
sacrifices of the great war are talked
about. and they will cut out the figures
I have collected for them and save
them for reference whenever they feel
that way. F. D. NJ.